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<title>The Strange Case of Randall Mitchel by orphan_account</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23414278">The Strange Case of Randall Mitchel</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account'>orphan_account</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst with a Happy(ish) Ending, BAMF Women, Detectives, Frame Narrative, I'm Bad At Tagging, LGBTQ Character, Minor Character Death, Mystery, Original Fiction, Other, Past Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 08:40:50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>739</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23414278</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Everything about Abigail Williamson was a lie. She seemed like a normal rebellious teen, but when Detective John Peterson was assigned to the case of Randall Mitchel's murder, she stood out to him. He knew things weren't adding up, and he was determined to get to the bottom of things.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Strange Case of Randall Mitchel</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Everything about Abigail Williamson was a lie. She was one of the many rebellious teenagers that attended the Central Valley Boarding School for the Behaviorally Challenged. She and her friends had been in trouble with every authority figure in town: their parents, their teachers, even the police. Especially the police. They had been escorted into squad cars for vandalizing the school’s dorms and handcuffed while being caught stealing a haul of over $500 worth of neckties and socks from Macy’s. But even though they were vandals, shoplifters and rebels, they were a decent group of kids. Rebellious and misunderstood, mind you, but decent. That’s why it was a surprise to the entire band class of over ninety students when police burst into the classroom and announced that Abigail was being arrested for the murder of Randall Mitchel. </p><p>	“She’s guilty, I know she is!” Exclaimed Detective Peterson, a cigar carefully placed in the right corner of his cracked lips, ashes cascading down to the mahogany desk with every puff of smoke. The smoke danced around the room in delicate ribbons until eventually dissipating quickly, gone as swiftly as it had been produced. The two other people in the room shook their heads as they paced around the dark and stuffy room that smelled faintly of tobacco and even more faintly of scotch. Their minds were racing.</p><p>	“What proof do you have?” questioned the woman in a red pantsuit, pausing in front of the detective’s desk in order to look him in the eyes sternly. “You can’t go around arresting teenagers without a decent case against them, and from the evidence I have seen, there’s barely enough to drag her in here for questioning.” She pressed her hands to the edge of the desk, leaning forwards. Her insistence on keeping strong eye contact lent to the menacing look she was portraying. The man pacing beside her paused in the corner of the room in order to look at the encounter unraveling before him. He shook his head and began walking the short distance to get to the chair that the woman had shoved out of her way. He grabbed the chair and straddled the back of it, facing towards Peterson.</p><p>	“Alex, stand down,” the man said gingerly. The woman pushed off the desk and landed in the chair behind her with a small thud. She looked at both the men with fire in her eyes, the orange glint almost visible. It stood out starkly against her mocha-colored skin. The man sitting next to her sighed and turned back to the lead detective. “Peterson, why exactly did you arrest a fifteen-year-old for murdering a man she seemingly had never met before?” He spoke as if he didn’t believe that the sentence he had just said was coming out of his own mouth. He looked at Peterson with both disbelief and urgency. </p><p>	Peterson huffed before looking the man that sat before him in the eyes. “I know this sounds crazy. Believe me, I do. But… I just know she did it. I can’t explain it right now. I just know.” He looked between the man and the woman sat before him. They both wore looks of utter disbelief. </p><p>	It seemed to be a full minute before anyone spoke. “You...” Alex began rigidly. “You arrested her… based on a hunch‽” She jumped out of her seat as if it was suddenly made of hot coals. She began pacing wildly and running her hands roughly through her coarse hair. “You do know that’s completely illegal, right? Do you know how much trouble you’re going to be in?”</p><p>	“Not just you,” the man spoke up, standing while pushing his chair away from him. “This whole department is going to be in deep shit. The media is going fucking nuts because of this. All of this because of a hunch?” The man spit daggers. He rejoined Alex, taking the longest strides he possibly could within the stuffy, confined space. He eventually bumped into the woman pacing next to him, but neither of them paid any mind to the other and kept pacing. </p><p>	“Just let me talk to her, I know I can get her to talk. I don’t know how, but I know I’m right,” Peterson pleaded. </p><p>	The man laughed to himself while pacing. “Sure, Peterson. Be my guest. We’ll need a fall guy anyways. Might as well let you have your fun while you’re still employed.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hi friends! This is my first work that I'm publishing, so please be nice in the comments. Constructive criticism is much appreciated tho! I know the first chapter is short but hopefully they'll get longer as more ideas come. I have a basic outline for the plot but at the moment I'm unsure of how to get where I want to be. If you have any ideas for me, please let me know :)</p><p>Stay safe out there and stay inside as much as possible!</p><p>Much love,<br/>Noah<br/>(they/them)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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